Hjälmare canal

Hjälmare canal connects lake Hjuälmaren to Arbogaån, Arboga creek, at Gravudden. From here you can follow Arbogaån to lake Mälaren. The canal is 13 kilometer and 5 kilometer are artificial.

The sightseeingboat Tor from Arboga	The coffee shop by Hjälmare Dock	Lock number 8 is open for boats	Tor at the top of the Hällby flight of locks
A lock chamber	Canal idyll	Lock cranks

© All pictures by Carola Pettersson, 2001

Have a look at pictures from the old canal.

Total length	Total elevation	Number of locks	Max boatlength	Max boatwidth	Max draught	Max free height	Max speed
13 km	22 m	9	30 m	7 m	1,9 m	No limitations	5 knots

The canal have 9 locks. All are 35,6 meter long, 7,1 meter wide and 2,08 meter deep.

History:
The wish for a safe inland waterway from the Baltic Sea to Kattegatt is very old. From the beginning they were thinking of a connection via lake Mälaren and lake Hjälmaren to lake Vänern and through Göta River to Kattegatt.
During the reign of Karl IX works started for a canalization of the Eskilstuna creek to connect lake Mälaren to lake Hjälmaren, but works stopped in 1610.
The first successful works were decided by Gustav II Adolf and started in 1629. They were completed in 1639. This canal connected Hjälmaren to Arbogaån via several small lakes.
Gustav II Adlof decided that local people had to work on the canal, and as payment they did not have to be soldiers in the war. According to local hearsay German and Russian prisoners of war worked here too, along with some Swedish soldiers. All in all between 400 and 500 men were engaged in the work.
This first canal was difficult and expensive to maintain and the traffic was often stopped. It was frequently repaired and most of all between 1770 and 1776. But nothing seemed to help until Baltzar von Platen proposed an almost completely new direction. This rebuild of the canal was done 1819 to 1830 and the canal then got it's present direction. Since then maintenance has been normal.

Hjälmare Kanals Vänner is a society formed in 1998 to keep, develope, popularize and publicly market Hjälmare canal. They have a web-site about the canal.

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